Refrigerator-car



-110 Mod'l.) LA b'sheets -flhee'i REFRIGERATOR OAR. No. 503,772.Patented A ug. 22g-18'93.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets- Sheet a.

J.P LA YER. REFRIGERATOR on No. 503.772. Patented Aug. 22,1893.

v(No Model.) 5 Shaetaeflheet 4L J.PLAYER. REFRIGERATOR GAR.

No. 503,772.. Patented Aug. 22, 1893.

41mm 5 E r i we fia'arz ar, g 6%) P/ayer,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PLAYER, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,772, dated August22, 1893.

Application filed February 2, 1893- Sefial No. 460,712. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN PLAYER, of Topeka, Kansas, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator-Oars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

These cars, manyforms of which arein constant operation over the variouslines of rail roads in this country, are, as is well known, intended andadapted for the purpose of transporting perishable articles, or articleswhich are likely to be impaired by heat, from one point to another. Thetwo most important objects to be attained are the maintenance of asufficiently low temperature within the car, and-depending to someextent upon the first requirement-the prevention of the admission ofoutside air to the interior of the car, where it would raise thetemperature. Under ordinary conditions, those portions of the car whichare at and adjacent to the ice box or boxes would be colder than thoseportions of the car more distant from such ice boxes. Of course, thetendency of the colder air would be to fall, and thus start a certainamount of circulation through the car. Inasmuch as this circulation isvery important for the maintenance of the requisite degree oftemperature, another important point to be attained in the construction"of these cars is to provide means whereby this circulation may becreatedand promoted in the simplest, most direct and efficient manner.

The object of my invention is to provide a car which shall attain theabove advantages and provide an efficient system of internalcirculation. This car is further provided with means for prolonging foras great a time as possible the contact of the refrigerant with the air,thereby avoiding waste and increasing the distance which the car cantravel without a fresh supply of ice, or other cooling medium employed.

It is further my design to simplify and improve upon various details ofthe construction of the car, as will be hereinafter made apparent fromthe specific description.

My invention, therefore, consists in the teatures, details andcombinations hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings,Figure1 is a vertical cross section of a car providedwith my improvements, taken on lines 1 1 of Fig. 2, one half of thesection being upon each of these lines; Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinalsection of one half of a car, taken on the line2of Fig. 1,and partlycondensed by breaking out a portion of the car in order to show agrating located at or near the center of the car, as hereinafterdescribed; Fig. 3 a cross section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, one half of thesection being taken upon each line; Fig. 4 a section upon line 4 of Fig.3. Figs. 5 and 6 are details of construction; and Fig. 7 is a sectionalview similar to that shown in Fig. 2, but illustrating a modificationallof the sections being taken in the directions indicated by therespective arrows; and Figs. 4., 5 and 6 being upon an enlarged scale.

The car proper, that is, its walls A, roof B, ends 0 and flooring D, ismade in most particulars, except as hereinafter indicated, in any of thedesired forms; and I do not desire to limit the application of myparticular improvements to the special general construction shown in thedrawings. The walls, flooring, and roof of the car are preferably madedouble, treble or quadruple, with any desired number of air spaces, E,between the separate portions of the wall, which air spaces may,ifdesired, be filled with any suitable material which will serve toinsulate the interior of the car. This car is provided with one or moreice tanks, made substantially in the form shown in Fig. 2, there beingpreferably ohe of these tanksat each end of the In the preferredconstruction, the front wall of the tank is made of inclined slats, f,and the bottom of horizontal slats, f, an opening, Ffl, being preferablyleft above the slats in the front. To protect this tank, I prefer toprovide a sheathing, F the lower part of which is made in the forlnof aslatted door,

F adapted to be raised and lowered when it is desired to obtain accessto the space beneath the ice box. This ice box is provided with theusual opening through the roof for the admission of ice, which is closedby a door, F and a plug, F which fits closely against the beveled sidesof the opening, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. Beneath this ice box, on ornear the floor of the car, is arranged a pan, G, for catching the wateras it falls from the melting ice, and which is provided with a dischargepipe and trap Gr, preferablyso constructed as to provide a water seal toprevent the entrance of air into the car. To cover the stay bolts, H,and to permit 'access to them when desired,I providethepa n with caps,h, which fit over the heads of the stay bolts, but which may be removedwhen it is desired to take out any'of these bolts. (See Fig. 1.) c

In order to prolong as much as possible the use of the refrigerant, Iinterpose betweenthe pan G, and the bottom of the ice'bo'iz,supplementary pans or troughs, I. The con: struction of these troughsand their supports" is more particularly shown in Figs. t to 6,inelusive. v A frame, J,is supported in any suit ablevmanner, asbymeansof blocks, 3', at.v any desired point beneath vthe bottom of the icebox. In this frame, a frame J is supported upon trunnionsJQinsuch manneras tobe free to rotateor revolvein the frame Jj. It is inthislatterframe that the troughs or pans, I, are supported, Thesetroughs are preferably made of sheet metal, of anydesireddimensions, andpreferably, though not necessarily, in two parts, 1 1 the latter beingsmaller than, andsupportedjnside of the former, witha spacebetweenthem,'as shown in Fig. A; These troughs are each provided with 0'ifices,,lettered respectively, i, it: Theremay be any number of thesetroughs desired. 1n, the drawings,lhave shown two sets. containing threedouble, troughs each running beneath theiee tan-kslengthwise of the carWhile I have, in Fig 0:, shown ibut two frames, J T with thetroughssupported thereby, itwill be obvious thatin actual operationIjshouldprefertohavetwo more sets placed beside the two shown beneath theslats fbutthesetwolatter sets have been omitted for the sake of clearness inthedrawings. This number of sets, however, may be diminishedor increased"andthey tmay be swung transverselyflto the car asdesired, and thenumberof the troughs in each set, and their arrangement, may be variedasdesired. Eor example, there may be three troughs, one. within the'other,in: stead of two, a d so on. This portion of my inventionoperates asfollows: The melting water which flows from the, ice box first entersthe trough or troughs, 13, (in any case the innermost tl'QUgh ortroughs, no matter how many be us d); t rises in these r ghs? until itreaches the openings '5, then passes through these o'peningsinto thetrough or troughs I, inwhich it; risesuntil it reaches the openings '0',when it passes through these openings and falls into the pan G, fromwhich it passes out, of the car through the trap G In this way, aconstantquantity of ice water is smaintained in .,the auxiliary troughs,and the use of, the refrigerant is prolonged, thereby increasing theefiiciency of action of the car. -When it, is desired to; empty, thesetroughs, they may be rotated on. their; trunj nions, and the waterdischarged through the openings jiQii, after which the troughs may beagain swung back into their normal position. When more troughs than twoare placed one within the other, the'water passes from ,7 gneto theother throughout the series. When only one is used, it passes directlyfrom this trough to the pan G.

= To provide for and facilitate the production of suitable air currents,I prefer to construct the car with an air duct or ducts under its floor,communicating with the space heneath the ice box; and opening at or nearthe center of the can; This object maybe arrived at in a variety ofways, of which I have shown two. In ,Figs- 41d 2, I, have shown h airpacet -r flf r e y means of pp nta y ,or asldi qn l flamin p ac dw h n,t e a audi ppertd ad i distance bOVQ IhB ma ing D-;.T1, e channel thusformed epensintoihe space benjeaththe ice,box, as indicated by the,arrow in F g and s ommun ates with. t e interiorofthe carby meansuofasuitable grats, LM; pl c l or ns ar he ce r of 1 9 ar, wh h m y bema eop n as desired- This construction is best adapted to 'Binodngior d n yimpr emen m ld ca s.-

: In Fig,Wheair t r uctsliatares oweas located be a t emai flb mDme gh ome by mean i anla dition'al..s ppl ment y floQring- -thisflooring beingshownas one of the insulated floorin gs already referred to, a In thisconstruction,the,grating M is preferably made intheforrn of an iron,casting, a dapted to be ,liftedout when desired; and the lower o n t cq e a y m a o a p us m lar inconstliuction to the plug which closes theopening into the ice box; When thegrat i s been rem ve hi ri g ay e lfte 1 t ereby af ding. cce t thev air sp c or cleaning out heIsam -rvTsn a nerm construction iswell adapted for use in build i l newv i 'a a nn .my mpro ement The op ra ien th s pa tof my imven ioe ill proba ly.bevbv qus'f m theadrawing but maybe briefly-stated. AS12116 air becomeschilled by contact with the ice, or other refrigerant us it i t l in hcetb x d te pas o i j ss agi sfK,beneath t floori- ...W n ..a s th nrdawnin. t ro h epen Q-a dt e ai i v 'he. tsvpas's through the. gratingintothe car, to replace that which has entered the iceboxj lnl this way,a continuous and eificient. circulat ion is promoted and maintained in avery simple manner. To assist in the cireulation l prefer to provide thefurring strips, or,,ti1nbers, O, with holes, 0, through which the aircurrents n.p s-,,. t.., By means. of the above construction, I am e d, oprov d a car 9 the. h g e i ciency in operation,- combined with great sinp i ity of c r ct a Whi 'I- hav fe: scribed more or less precise forms,I, donotim ten to und y l mit. mysel h et y ut c0 1- template all properchanges in form,- proportoo tions, and the substitution of equivalentmembers, as may be desirable or necessary.

I claim- 1. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an ice box, astationary pan at the floor of the car beneath such ice box, and atrough rotatother, whereby as the water escapes from the box it willpass successively through the va rious troughs in the series beforeescaping from the car, substantially as described.

3. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice tank havinga bottom provided with openings for the escape of water, a pan beneathsuch tank, and a series of double troughs supported between such bottomand the pan and communicating with each other, whereby the water whichpasses from the tank passes through the series of troughs beforereaching the pan, substantially as described.

4. In a refrigerator car, a series of troughs placed one within theother, open at their tops, and provided with discharge orifices in theirsides, whereby the water falls into the first trough, accumulatestherein until it reaches the orifices in its sides, then passes into thenext trough, similarly accumulating therein until it reaches thedischarge orifices, out through which it passes substantially asdescribed.

5. In a refrigerator car, a series of sub: stantially V-shaped troughsplaced one within the other, the innermost trough in the series beingopen at its top and provided with discharge orifices in its sides, theremainder of the series of troughs being all provided with dischargeorifices, whereby the water will accumulate in each successive troughuntil it reaches the discharge orifices through which it will pass fromone trough to another throughout the series, thereby maintaining one ormore bodies of cold water within the car substantially as described.

6. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice-box, and aseries of communicating troughs placed one within the other and carriedby a frame pivoted beneath such box, substantially as described.

7. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice boxcommunicating with the car, a duct beneath the floor communicating withthe space beneath the ice box and the space within the car, and a seriesof troughs JOHN PLAYER.

Witnesses:

D. E. CAIN, FRED NELSON.

